Amateur radio hams spend weekend on the mic

Photos courtesy Charles Byars

Amateur radio enthusiasts were back on the mic this weekend at the annual ARRL Radio Field Day.

You likely saw their setup, including a tall tower installed at their site inside Olive Branch City Park, for a 24-hour transmitting and listening session.

ARRL stands for American Radio Relay League, which has been in existence for more than 100 years. It promotes the importance and enjoyment of amateur radio.

In emergency situations, officials will at times look to ham radio operators to disseminate important information, while also offering to spread news of community events, disaster response, and various programs. This typically occurs when storms or disasters mean loss of electric power and the hams can get micside using generators to power their transmitters.

While being an emergency voice, amateur radio broadcasters also use their transmitters to reach out to people elsewhere in the country and around the world for connections, communication, and enjoyment.

So, for the 24 hours from about 1 p.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Sunday, radio operators were on the mic at City Park making as many contacts as possible and to see from where those contacts were coming from.

The Chickasaw ARC, Olive Branch Amateur Radio Club, and DeSoto County EMA volunteers are active in the ARRL Radio Field Day. Visitors were welcomed to come by and try their hand at being their own “ham” and reaching out to the world.

During Field Day, the event can be used as a practical drill in emergency radio operations, simulating post-disaster communications when power or infrastructure is down. The hams likely had some involvement Saturday evening when heavy rain and weather warnings went through the area.

Radio Field Day is a national event that is held every fourth weekend of June.